Long Tortoiseshell Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Miracle ova fertilized cell...

Yielded pink bundle of joy
self determined autonomous millennial
relocated University of Pennsylvania
Engineering graduate class of 2019
calls Oakland, California home
(employed at Certified B Corporation)
lives with her lovely beau,
and two beautiful tortoiseshell cats.

December twenty second
two...

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Bane of dyschezia

Constipation spoilt rare visit
with eldest daughter
(yesterday - November twenty sixth
two thousand twenty two)
currently housed near
Rittenhouse Square, Pennsylvania.

Less than twelve hours
after a cocktail comprising
handful of prunes,
four psyllium husk capsules,
plus three dulcolax.

Myself and missis
privy to...

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These are English translations by of Latin poems written by the ancient Roman female poet Sulpicia.



V. Reproach for Indifference
by Sulpicia
translation by Michael R. Burch

Have you no kind thoughts for your girl, Cerinthus,
now that fever wilts...

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Sappho, fragment 118
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Sing, my sacred tortoiseshell lyre;
come, let my words
accompany your voice.

"Quoted by Hermogenes and Eustathius. Sappho is apparently addressing her lyre. The legend is that Hermes made the first...

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Lisa’s dad has a visitor from out of town - a “very important man.” He came early. He was dressed casually, in slacks, and a jacket over a mock-turtleneck. He was genial, behind tortoiseshell glasses,...

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Heartbroken lass bereft of eminent beau
papa doth vicariously experience her
(mine daughter's) grievous woe.

Unfair a budding promising relationship nought
going to incorporate wedded bliss,
when for all the world
the strong humble lad
absconded to Puerto Rican his homeland.

Thus pained...

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Tortoiseshell Cats 

Aroun’ came a kittycat, it was so cold
Slept outside to save her sole
Staying outside might do her harm.
Gotta do summin’ to keep her warm.
Got her a pillow, got her a mat.
But she slept...

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from above a hum, a gentle pop and they appear out of thin air 
large as Right whales out of the sky they pour in like colorful dreams

gliding down on papered metal wings, the airborne...

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Just a stray
                                ...

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mallards... a pair
koi carp can't compete... duck feet
strang orange shapes
~
sunshine... summertime
fickle spring... climate changing
muted cuckoos
~
Jenny wren... begging
let summer have its way
seasons confound spring
~
first orange tip
fluttered by... seeking partners
tortoiseshell denied
~
sloe... blackthorn blossoms
cover branches... bumper crop
sloe gin......

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Holly Day Cheer, Oy Vey

Lemme breathe smoke free air, okay
devoid of exhaust from swarm
(bajillion) enroute without delay
Santas Clauses gas guzzling 
hybridized motorized sleigh,
coordinating global deliveries, 

via GPS devices with weather proof inlay, 
nor without the...

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Tortoiseshell tulips often grow at left angles to the moon and are otherwise adjusted to a sealed lip of ground. But a curled canopy of shredded wheat and oats make even the wildest of gardens...

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A cacophony of cats in my life.
Not one or two, but fifteen!
Each,who along with joy,
brought sadness and strife!
All shapes and sizes with grand
and most loving personalities.

The Maine Koone was the smallest
of all.
Maxine was pedigreed and...

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WHEN RELIGION BECOMES 
YOUR OPIUM 

When religion becomes your 
opium you slip into icy pre-dawn 
to mosque then lie in fever flu 
at dusk as bilal calls again
for you to stumble towards 
beckoning forefinger guilt
chalices...

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A weblike interior is not a gut feeling. It is an erosive quantity of golden hue with the goldsmith involved being the mind's eye. Mindful mindsets mingling many manuscripts momentarily. Regardless of format and zone....

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The laugh like cry of the April woodpecker happy in the early spring,
And the dry harsh note of the Jay, awaken the forests and everything,
The dusky wings of rook’s glance in the sun, they are...

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I have just been confounded by nature on so many counts. I have been commenting on bumblebees not being seen in any quantity over most of the month, and today two species. Not abundant, but...

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Obdurate goat tangles rough knotted rope
Stuck beside shadowy friend, Silky Oak
Hedonistic prisoner capricorn, cheap trope
Ethics remain riddle, morals mere joke


Towered timber utters truth in its creak
Canopy clapping hands crush recollection 
Billion fingered Silky Oak, silver...

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A large pile of elephant excrement is neither resembling a tortoiseshell coat or a brown handbag but playing dodge ball on a busy motorway could be considered to be akin to a wonky attic vibrating...

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ABOUT A CAT
 
 They found you at the bus stop in the bin.
  scraggy mog with unmatched staring eyes.
  The soaking fur made bones show through your skin.
  How could we...

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Shark my tortoiseshell cat of pure arrogance has stepped on my tail today
I had my front door propped open, confident because I live in the country.
Confident that the breeze would help me stay in a...

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I saw you
In the tender birth of a summer’s day
Emerge,
Fragile to a new life,
New freedom,
Feast delights of nectar
On the brambled cliffs.

I saw your fluttered dance of courtship
In the gladed woods
Above the Lyn.
Those crowded flights
Of summer’s...

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The sun shines bright, 
 brilliant glowing white
 and the last flowers of the day, 
 catch the last of summer rays.

Morning glories wake
 white, purple, pink along the gate
 and the climbing roses wither...

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Dedicatedt
to
Maureen McGreavy

*********

butterflies, the best time to see,
the time to, time to, time to see.
summer gardens, yes, come with me.
summer in my garden.

did I say I beg your pardon,
beg your pardon, beg your pardon?
tortoiseshell no there's...

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